Returner's Revenge

Persistence

After Kris and Johannes handed over the requirements for the task, the employee could not believe his eyes when he saw the glowing mushroom and so ask the boys how they manage to get the item. The boys just told him that they are able to trick the glowing mushroom to glowing brightly. At first the employee did not trust their words but when he sees that they don’t have the slight intention of lying, he dismissed it and accepts the requirements. He then gave the two the rewards and written their names on the paper but Kris told the employee to erase his name and keep Johannes’ name alone secretly.

               Kris asked the guards to leave the academy for a moment and since it is their first time going out the academy, the guards permitted them and they went straight to the medicine shop that the system and his memories reminded him. “Wow- this place looks really expensive? Do you really think that something that would help us train lies here? I don’t think we can afford anything from here though.” Johannes says his concern but Kris dismisses them. “Don’t worry, it certainly is here. There is no way I would miss it. And don’t talk about such things while we’re here. We can’t afford for them to raise the price when it is already dang expensive.” Kris gestures him to keep quiet and so Johannes did.

               “Good day, what help could I provide you with?” the clerk ask the two who immediately greets her back. “can I ask if you still have two 300 year old plum? My friend and I are experiencing some pains after some gruesome training. I heard that it has great regenerative capabilities so it would help us a lot in our training.” Kris said while faking his pained body. The clerk first checked them and realize that they are students from the academy but then turns to Kris and looks at him with a funny expression.

               “Really? I heard that the academy only trains with spells so why are you two training your bodies?” the clerk ask with a smile on her face. Kris looks at her with a blank expression before saying anything. “What? Just because we are training with spells we can’t train our bodies as well? And first off, people that trains with spells needs to be healthy and that doesn’t just requires eating properly, it involves keeping our bodies healthy by exercising. Not to mention that we will have to rely on our physical strength when we run out of mana right? Though we are not going to be able to move much but at least we can defend ourselves with minimal movements.” Kris state his excuse.

               [He makes a fair point. But it is still not enough.] the clerk says to herself. “Still not enough.” She says to the boys who are even more disappointed. [This clerk is persistent. 300 year old plum doesn’t even sell much this time of the year so why the heck is she clinging on to it like her life depends on it?] Kris thinks to himself as he states his next excuses that completely severed the persistence of the clerk. “Well, we might be idiots or something but we are aspiring to be a figure like Libo Huarang. Ever since we heard his name and how he fights, we decided to take the same path since we have both physical strength and are learning some spells so we might as well use both.” Kris says with an emotional tone that Johannes find weird.

               [What the heck is this guy saying? And who the hell is Libo huarang?] Johannes looks at Kris with doubtful eyes and then turns to the clerk who first looked like a hard stone to c***k now crying after hearing Kris’ words. [This is even weirder.] he says to himself after seeing that Kris’ persuasion somehow got through to her defenses. “You poor souls. That’s it, people like you should aspire to be better. I was hesitant to sell you the plums first but after hearing those words, I change my mind.” The clerk says as she reach out to the highest shelf and opens it. Inside, it reveals the somehow shining brightly plums inside a jar. [ Wow, now I feel guilty for even lying.] Kris thinks to himself as he looks at the jar of plums.

               “Here it is. The 300 year old plums. I will give you two a discount since you touched my heart. That would be 50 silver coins each, a total of 100 silver coins.” The clerk says as Kris checks their rewards money from doing the tasks and sees that it is enough and hands it to the clerk. “Please count if first before we leave.” Kris says and the clerk happily does so. The counting takes a few seconds and the clerk confirms that she received the right money. “Pleasure doing business with you two. If you both need some things in the future. Be sure to check my store again okay?” the clerk says as the two leaves her shop with a bow.

               “Kris, I know that you already have an idea what I am about but I am still going to ask. Aren’t we ripped off? These plums are so common in our land right?” Johannes says to Kris as they make their way back to the academy. “Wrong. These are not just ordinary plums Johannes. These are 300 year old plum, they only grow in harsh places and people rarely finds these fruits. If you take a closer look, you can see that these plums are different than what we have back home.” Kris says as he takes out a plum from the jar and shows it to Johannes who is still doubtful of the plum.

               “We are grateful that she pity us, normally these plums can be sold for gold coin each and are really useful in treating deadly diseases but since there is no pandemic right now. Their prices drops a significant amount and we saved almost 1800 coins. That is not a bad trade if you ask me.” Kris says with a smile on his face while Johannes on the other hand could not believe that a single plum can cost 1 gold coin. [What the hell? They are that expensive?] his eyes widen as he stares at the plum in Kris’ hand and wonders if he is worthy of taking such expensive medicine when he barely did anything.

               Kris senses this as the system also alerts him of what Johannes is thinking and so he tells him off before he can do or say anything. “Don’t even think that you are not going to eat the other plum. We both promised to be strong and I don’t want to be strong alone. So don’t even think about passing off in this rare opportunity or I’ll feed this to you forcedly.” He says as he hands the other plum to Johannes. “Let’s eat these inside the academy. People can easily recognize this and might take it away from us.’ Kris reminds him as they hide their plums.

               They both entered the academy just fine and returned to their room to consume the plums when they met the female student that watched the practical test. “I was wondering where you were. Why didn’t you advance?” the female ask Kris who wished they came in a lot late. [Flora Flames, in my past life she is bossy as hell but still a good person. Though she met her end because she went around and destroyed the organization’s plans, I did not expect that we are almost in the same age.] he thinks to himself before answering her question. “Maybe the teacher just don’t find my skills to be worthy of advancing.”

               Flora almost flipped after hearing his words and Johannes also wants to state his disapproval but Flora accepts his excuse. “You must be planning something and I understand. Though I will be looking forward in your advancement next time. It would be a waste to let such a talent rot away. The teacher just doesn’t see that.” After their brief exchange, Flora and her followers then left first. Kris then reminds Johannes not to say some unnecessary things. “It doesn’t matter if we are in the lower classes. Our prime objective is to get stronger Johannes, it’s just classes Johannes. It doesn’t dictate if we are strong or not, the only thing that’s different is the treatment and spells that are taught, nothing else. You know me far better than anyone and I know you just as much.” Kris says with a stern tone.

               “But- isn’t it unfair for you to be treated badly while I on the other hand have a better standing?” Johannes says but Kris told him to dismiss the thought. “That will only hinder us from getting stronger so erase that thought.” Kris says as he takes a bite on the plum. Kris thinks that his words are still not enough to convince Johannes, he knows more than anyone how stubborn Johannes can be. So he let Johannes take his time. [It’s not good to rush him. I don’t want what happened in the past repeat.] Kris tihnks to himself as he ate the plum completely after entering their room.